


What Gave it Away?

by Tsuki_Amano



Series: Steve Rogers Guide to Superheroes [9]
Category: Captain America (Movies), Captain America - All Media Types, The Avengers (Marvel) - All Media Types
Genre: M/M, Pre-Serum Steve Rogers, Skinny Steve, Superhero Bucky, Winter Soldier Bucky Barnes, superhero au
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-08-07
Updated: 2016-08-07
Packaged: 2018-08-07 06:18:26
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,525
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/7703749
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Tsuki_Amano/pseuds/Tsuki_Amano
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Because Steve thinks Bucky's adorable, he really does.</p><p>But Bucky's about as subtle as a glaring neon sign.<br/>Or the continuation of the Superhero AU that no-one asked for. Featuring Bucky Barnes the superhero and his not-so-clueless boyfriend Steve who'll fight you if you look at Bucky wrong.</p>
            </blockquote>





	What Gave it Away?

**Author's Note:**

> I had no idea what to do with this AU and went on a hiatus for a bit, but I sort of wanted to explore how Steve and Bucky got together in this arc. Also, Steve is pre-serum Steve in this and Bucky is his Winter Soldier self with a metal arm.

Steve wants to say that his heart doesn’t skip a couple of beats when Bucky starts showing up at the coffee shop, but his mother didn’t raise a liar.

At first, he thought it was a one-off thing, Bucky came in a couple of times a week, grabbed his usual order of a black coffee ( _Ugh, what even was that_ ), greeted Steve cheerfully and left after paying for his order. Sometimes, he’d ask about Steve’s day and Steve would do his best not to stumble over his words. Those were good days, days when he can’t help but keep a smile off his lips. Unfortunately, everyone in the shop knows when Steve’s having a ‘ **Good Day** ’ because as Pietro’s friend Clint puts it, Steve has this ‘glow’ about him.

When Steve had heard that, he’d made his best unimpressed face and threatened to withhold Clint’s cupcakes.

Bucky slowly starts frequenting the shop on a more regular basis, and Steve would even go as far as to call them friends ( _only in his head, because thank you very much, he’s not a fan of having his hopes and dreams shattered by a devastatingly handsome man_ ).

He’s had his doubts about Bucky, he can’t help but think that he reminds him of someone he’d met once, a certain superhero that had saved his life not too long ago. But Steve knows that’s all conjecture, it has to be, because what kind of superhero comes to a halfway decent coffee shop to buy black coffee from a scrawny asthmatic kid? There’s no way something like that could happen in real life.

So he stops himself from thinking about it too much and instead focuses on not burning himself while he tries to make the increasingly complicated drinks that he can’t begin to pronounce. He’s got a good system going too, and if nothing else, Steve Rogers is a creature of habit.

Bucky tends to come in on Mondays, Wednesdays, and Fridays. He usually shows up when Steve’s working ( _although that’s probably a coincidence and Steve refuses to think about it any more than he needs to, so you can stop smiling like a goon Clint_ ). Steve has the morning shift on Mondays and Wednesdays, and the night shift on Fridays, and like clockwork, Bucky comes in either at 10.15 in the morning or 7.45 in the evening.

When Bucky comes in, his eyes scan the coffee shop, almost like an automatic reflex, although Steve doesn’t know what he’s looking for. When he’s done making his assessment of the room, he locks eyes with Steve and smiles ( _and Steve’s heart totally does not melt_ ), and his eyes do that strange crinkling thing that makes Steve want to pull out a tub of ice-cream.

He always orders the same thing ( _One tall black coffee, no sugar, no milk, yes punk I’m sure_ ) and Steve always gives him misery for it ( _Come on you jerk live a little, why not at least try something else, hey if nothing else, why not try sugar? I hear it’s amazing_ ). Bucky snorts, makes small talk, depending on how many customers there are behind him in line, pays and tells Steve he hopes he has a nice day before leaving. Steve pointedly does not stare at Bucky as he leaves, nor does he sigh when Bucky turns around to wave at him when he’s out of the shop.

Because Steve Rogers is not a damsel in some tedious young adult novel.

On Fridays, he stays for a little longer and on the rare occasion, Steve’s managed to persuade him to buy a pastry to wrap up and eat.

But they’ve got their system, and Steve expects that’s the way things will work till he finds out that Bucky’s got a secret girlfriend/boyfriend stashed away somewhere.

Except, one day, things change.

It’s a Friday evening and Bucky’s late, it’s 8.05 ( _not that Steve’s keeping track or anything_ ) when the bell at the door chimes and someone walks in. Steve pauses from where he’s been wiping down the counter, business tended to slow down after 7.30, and looks up, to freeze.

Bucky’s walked in, but he looks like he ran into a lamp post. His right eye’s cut and bruised and there’s a cut above his lip. He’s holding his arm at a strange angle and Steve can’t help but notice that he’s limping.

When he catches Steve staring, he offers a weak smile and says, “So do you think I can still get that coffee?”

That startles Steve out of his horrified freeze and he darts forward, abandoning the rag on the counter.

“What happened? Bucky, geez, you need to go to a hospital!” He leads Bucky to a table which is in the corner of the shop, secluded from the remaining area and wrings his hands nervously as Bucky winces when he sits down.

“Don’t worry pal, just a minor disagreement with some not-so-nice people is all.”

“A minor disagreement?!?” Steve all but screeches and wow he did not know he could hit those notes. A trickle of blood seeps out of the cut above his eye and drips down his face and Steve’s heart starts pounding uncomfortably quickly. His breathing becomes shallow and he grips the table hard because honestly, he might be starting to panic just a bit.

“Hey, it’s ok, you’re ok Stevie. Deep breaths pal, that’s it. I’m fine, I just had a run-in with thugs who were harassing a girl, I swear this will heal up soon and I’m fine. That’s it, in and out. Do you have your inhaler with you?”

Now that Steve can actually breathe again, he feels ridiculously embarrassed about how easily he panicked. He waves away Bucky’s concern and promises that he’ll return in a bit with Bucky’s order. He heads into the back room on unsteady legs and plops down in the nearest chair he can find, dropping his head into his hands and forcing himself to breathe.

Somewhere, over the last few months, their inane chatter and shared smiles have blossomed into something else. Steve’s irrevocably attached to Bucky.

And he’s not sure if that’s a good thing or not.

***Bonus Scene***

_The door slams open and Pietro saunters in, humming to himself, before stopping short when he sees Steve. He rushes to him and forces a glass of water into his hands before Steve explains what’s happened. Pietro goes still before he pats Steve’s shoulder and tells him to head home early. At the sound of his protests, Pietro glares and says he’s barely got any time left on his shift anyway._

_“Just head home Rogers, besides, there’s barely anyone here, I’ll be fine. You look like you’ll fall over any minute now”._

_He’s about to head out when Steve remembers Bucky’s order, “Ah Pietro, before you go, Bucky ordered his usual.”_

_Pietro smiles at him, though it looks strained and he says, “Don’t sweat it buddy, I’ll make sure lover boy gets his caffeine fix, I’ll even draw a little heart on it if you promise me you’ll go home.”_

_Steve flushes, but promises to go home and get some rest._

_He’s packed up and is heading out when he notices something odd. Ducking behind the door, his gaze sharpens as he watches Pietro have a heated debate with Bucky over something. Pietro’s seated at the table with the other man and his arms are crossed over his chest. Normally an easy going person, his back looks tense and whatever he’s saying to Bucky, he can’t help but notice the other looks put out about._

_He decides to make a detour before he leaves and quietly heads over to the table. He’s able to catch a few snippets of their conversation._

_“….thinking coming over here like this!”_

_“I understood you the first time, I just wanted to…”_

_“You just wanted to what? You could have come back on Monday, you know that. He could have gotten seriously hurt!”_

_“I didn’t know he’d get that worked up!”_

_“Sometimes, I swear you just don’t think! It’s the same way out there too, you just rush into a fight with no regard for…”_

_At this point, Bucky notices Steve coming towards them and says, in an exaggeratedly cheerful voice, “Hey punk, how you holding up?”_

_Pietro starts and turns around, “I thought you were going home?”_

_Steve raises an eyebrow. “I just came to say bye. I didn’t know the two of you knew each other.”_

_Bucky flushes, looking vaguely guilty whereas Pietro scowls, “We’ve met. Come on, actually before you head off, there're some spare pastries I want you to take home. Don’t give me that looks, they’ll go bad if no one eats them and I’ve already packed some for me and Wanda.” He ushers Steve away but Steve doesn’t miss the cold look he shoots at Bucky before they leave._

_He can’t help but feel that he’s missing something._

* * *

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**Author's Note:**

> I really like Pietro. That's it, that's the reason for the bonus scene, leave me to my corner of shame.
> 
> Also, I don't actually drink coffee, which is why I was thinking to myself what a moron I was because I don't even know what types of coffee drinks there are and I made Steve work in a coffee shop.
> 
> I hope you all enjoy this! Comments are always appreciated!


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